Exhibition of new paintings considers painful legacy of Love Canal

The Love Canal environmental catastrophe, which finally came to light in the late ’70s before prompting international attention and spurring some environmental reform, is a distant memory for most Western New York residents. But the crisis and its aftermath still weigh heavily on the mind of Wheatfield-based painter Tricia Butski, whose exhibition of Love Canal-inspired paintings runs through April 26 in Dunkirk’s Adams Art Gallery.

Butski’s series of oils depicts the quiet, eerie spaces left behind by the neighborhood’s evacuation as well as visions of the toxic waste responsible for the whole affair. The show will also feature artifacts from the site as well as explanatory maps that provide a deeper sense of how the crisis played out.

“The Love Canal crisis received national and international attention as the entire neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, had to be relocated due to the amount of toxins in the soil and groundwater,” a statement reads. “Although much of the disaster’s details have been forgotten, generations continue to suffer from its shattering effects.” – Colin Dabkowski